If you’ve been checking back in on us, you may have noticed we haven’t been active on here for quite some time! Fortunately, if you’re missing delicious new recipes, Bob has started a new blog called The Adventures of Bob & Shan, with his girlfriend Shannon!

This whole being a food photographer is working out pretty good for me lately! After completing a bunch of burger photos, I had an abundance of leftover ingredients, including this beautiful prime rib, which I felt would be a shame to put it in my freezer (it gives everything terrible freezer burn), so I set out a plan to cook it right away!

I kept it simple, rubbing the prime rib with thyme, garlic, salt, and pepper, and roasted it with a bunch of beautiful vegetables. The only thing left to do, was find a hot date! Fortunately my girlfriend loves red meat, vegetables, and me, so that was an easy sell! Oh yeah, and I had the red wine ready to go…It was an offer she couldn’t refuse!

When it comes to Prime Rib, you don't need much. In this recipe we keep it simple with garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper!

Ingredients

2 pound prime rib

2 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

5-6 sprigs of thyme

2 tbsp minced garlic

Instructions

The night before, rub the prime rib with salt, pepper, garlic and thyme, wrap with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge overnight.

If you wish, you can cook the roast on vegetables and potatoes, like I did here. Just toss our favourite veg in some olive oil, seasoning with salt and pepper, and lay the roast on top. If the vegetables need some more cooking time, put them back in the oven, and crank the heat to 400F, and continue cooking while your meat rests.

Take the prime rib out about an hour before cooking, to allow the meat to come to room temperature.

Once your prime rib has warmed, roast in the oven at 450F for 15 minutes, before turning the heat down to 325F for about 45 minutes to an hour (for a small - 2 pound roast).

Cook the roast until the internal temperature reaches 120F for rare, or 130F for medium rare.

Let the roast rest for 15-20 minutes before serving.

3.2.1255

The roast turned out great, was cooked perfectly, with nice simple flavours, but unfortunately that meant no leftovers for sandwiches the next day :(. A minor problem I suppose….

For anybody who stays away from cooking large cuts of meat, I urge you to try them out. Start with a small cut (this prime rib was only 2 pounds), invest in a meat thermometer (I would recommend one that you keep in the meat the whole time you’re cooking), and you’ll tackle roasts like this without a problem.

This post is inspired by neglect! Specifically by two things I’ve been neglecting – blogging, and my poor little slow cooker, tucked away under the sink. I suppose it could also be about my neglect for cooking substantial meals, as of late. Not much has changed over the past several months, I’m still very busy, which is awesome! I’ve been doing some cooking, but not as much as normal, and just haven’t been able to dedicate time to blogging.

Thanks to all the food photography projects I’ve been working, my fridge has been seeing a constant flow of ingredients, and after a couple of photoshoots, it just so happened that I had all the makings of chili! The perfect thing to cook when you’re busy. Just toss it in the slow cooker, and let it go.

Pulling my slow cooker out from the depths of my cupboard, dusting it off, and plugging it in, I began filling it up with delicious ingredients, inspired by this Three-Bean & Pork Chili in Ricardo magazine.

In a slower cooker, add ingredients from your pan, then return the pan to your element, deglaze with coffee, and add to slow cooker.

Add in the beans, and tomato, cooking on low for around 8 hours, or high for about 4 hours.

If you are using unsoaked beans, you will likely need to cook for a longer time period on low, for the beans to soften up (I cooked the chili this way, and cooked for about 8 hours on low).

Once cooked, serve with a some shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream, diced red onion, and some nice bread.

3.2.1255

This was actually my first time making chili, and it turned out great! Using the slow cooker, you can just let it simmer, tasting it every now and then, and adding things here and there until you’re satisfied with the results.

Hope everyone takes some time to slow things down, and cook something delicious!

Lately I have been very busy with work, which is great, but being self-employed, it often means I keep very strange hours, without a lot of structure to my day. As a result, my diet gets pretty messed up. Instead of having a work day broken up into 2 breaks and a lunch, I might wake up at 10:00AM one day, work until 4:00 in the morning, then have to get up at 7:00am the next day for a photoshoot, and due to the typical quick turnaround, stay up very lately again editing everything. I always eat breakfast (thank goodness!), but without structured breaks in my day, I might go 8 hours before realizing I haven’t ate anything substantial, which is BAD!

This past week, I’ve been focusing on having more structured meal times, and actually taking the time to cook something, instead of making a sandwich, eggs, or *GASP* toast with peanut butter and jam (I eat this way more than I would like to admit…it has become an addiction since I’ve started making my own sourdough bread). Even though I have been cooking regularly this week, I hadn’t taken the time to do anything for the blog, so after re-stocking my fridge with groceries, I was motivated to whip something up!

Along with some inspiration from my grocery purchases, Saskatoon’s cold, snowy weather has arrived, which means one thing when it comes to eating: COMFORT. With that in mind, I went about creating a meal I had envisioned. Simple, rustic flavours were the name of the game, and I’m very happy with how it all came together!

In a large pan (preferably heavy cast iron), add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan, and bring to medium-high heat. Once heated, add the pork chop on one side, and your halved baby potatoes on the other. Season everything with salt and pepper.

Once pork chop has a good sear on the one side (after about 5-7 minutes), flip it and cook until done (a couple more minutes - or until it reaches and internal temperature of 150F).

Remove pork chop from pan and let rest.

While pork chop is resting, add the broccoli, along with the red onion, garlic, and habanero pepper and an extra drizzle of olive oil, roasting for about 5 minutes, until broccoli and potatoes start to brown.

Once browned, add in your kale, a pinch of thyme, and pinch of sage. Mix to combine, then add about a ½ cup of stock. Cook until stock has absorbed.

Remove potatoes and vegetables from pan.

Add a tablespoon of butter, and tablespoon of flour, mixing together. Once flour has absorbed into the butter, and is bubbling, add about a ½ cup of stock, mixing until thickened. Add more stock if pan gravy becomes too thick, or cook longer if gravy is too thin.

Serve pork with vegetables and pan gravy.

3.2.1255

Along with playing around with dish ideas, I got to test out a new backdrop I made, as well as a new light modifier for a recent LED light I purchased. Typically I will position the light for most of my food photos to the side, or at the front and to the side, but I decided to switch it up here and test out some backlighting. Along with the meal, I’m very pleased with how the photos turned out! Although I didn’t do much propping here, I just wanted to test out a couple different styles of lighting, and enjoyed the slightly different look achieved by lighting from behind the dish.

Given that a lot of people struggle with food photos when it gets dark out, and the majority of my photos are done in my basement, in the dark (with artificial light), I thought sharing some behind the scenes info on how I light everything might be fun! What do you guys think? If you’re interested, I’ll start taking some pictures of my light set-up with each photo. If that’s something you’d like to see, leave a comment!

When Carlene and I agreed to do a Halloween segment on CTV Morning Live, we both thought it would be great to do recipes that were very “Halloween”, but would be equally appropriate served to a group of kids, yet not too childish that you couldn’t make them for a group of adults! I think we found a great middle ground, so let’s get to the dip!

They are apples, which are far more appetizing and legal than real shrunken heads, not to mention, the perfect accompaniment to this Halloween cider! In my search for Halloween party ideas, I came across this great recipe from the homemaker of all homemakers, Martha Stewart. Inspired, I decided to whip up my own mix of ingredients, to go along with the shrunken heads. This punch is super easy and would also be great alcoholic, substituting the soda for champagne, or adding some spiced rum or bourbon into the mix!

A refreshing and fun way to serve up some punch at your next Halloween party!

Ingredients

4 cups apple cider

2 cups sprite (or other sparkling soda)

1 cup cranberry juice

2 sticks of cinnamon

2-4 apples (2 for a small punch bowl, 4 for a wider punch bowl)

2 whole cloves per apple (optional)

Instructions

Start by preheating your oven to 250F.

While oven is preheating, peel the skin off of all your apples, and slice them in half, removing the core with a melon baller, then cut faces in the round side. I used the smaller side of my melon baller, along with a paring knife to cut out all the faces.

Once sliced in half, and given a face, place the apple on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Bake for about 2 hours until apples have shrunk a bit, and become wrinkly. Push a clove into each eye socket of your apple.

Mix ingredients for punch together, place your apples into the bowl, along with the cinnamon sticks.

Serve and enjoy!

3.2.1255

Doesn’t that little guy^ look scared for his life? I felt bad, that’s why I left him out of the punch bowl…

It’s that time of year again where the ghosts, goblins and ghouls come out from their dark corners to haunt little children…and for adults to stuff our faces with delicious chocolate, candy, drinks and treats. That’s right, it’s Halloween. Bob and I were invited back to do another cooking segment with CTV Morning Live with a Halloween twist. We kept true to who we are, Bob covering the savory, while I dived into the sweeter side of Halloween with a Dexter inspired chocolate pie. Let’s get to the recipe so you can make it for your spooky Halloween party!

Lightly spray a glass pie dish with cooking spray and coat lightly with flour and set aside. You can also use small tinfoil pie plates for easy party sharing.

In a large bowl whisk together flour and cocoa powder. Cut in butter with two forks, a pastry knife, or fingertips until mixture resembles fine crumbs.

Add sugar and mix.

Stir in water one tablespoon at a time until mixture begins to come together. Cover with plastic wrap and chill 15 minutes.

Place crust dough in prepared pie dish and lay a sheet of plastic wrap over the entire dish. Press dough into dish until it is shaped to the dish. Be sure to press dough up over the edges of the dish.

Remove the plastic wrap and use a sharp knife to trim away excess dough hanging past the edge of the dish.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 325.

Prepare the filling by creaming together butter and sugar.

Mix in eggs, vanilla, and cocoa.

Melt the chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave by 30 second intervals at a time, stirring in between.

Add melted chocolate and cream to egg/butter/sugar/vanilla mixture and combine.

Pour mixture on top of pie crust.

*Depending on how thinly you spread your crust, you may or may not need to use the entire batch of filling. Fill to just below the pie crust and if you have extra, you can place into a ramekin for a gluten free option.

Bake 45 minutes.

Remove from oven and chill one hour or overnight.

**The pie will be tall when you first pull it out of the oven. It will sink as it cools. Once pie has chilled, spread the whipped cream evenly over pie. If you desire a "spiky" effect, press the back of a spoon into the cool whip, and lift it up again.

For the blood, in a sauce pan combine cherry juice, cornstarch and sugars together by whisking over a medium heat until the sauce has thickened. Once cooled, drizzle over top of pies and presentation dish.

3.2.1255

Hope you enjoy this chocolate pie and if you were looking to change this pie up, I think a chocolate oreo crumb pie crust would also work great! Thanks to Creme De Le Crumb for the inspiration on this pie and Bob for snapping the photos while I typed up this post on his computer.

It seems as though I’m having a bit of a moment with pumpkin these days…Fortunately, this post moves away from “pumpkin spice” and features a different spice.

Curry!

If you want to make this soup really easy, use canned pumpkin, or you can go the extra mile and make your own pureed pumpkin. Just pick out a pumpkin, cut it into large chunks, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt & pepper, and roast for about 30 minutes at 400F. Once roasted, spoon the pumpkin flesh off of the skin, and puree with a blender, then get to the recipe!

In a large pot, add about a tablespoon of olive oil, turning to medium heat, once pan is hot, add diced onion, cook until translucent (about 5 minutes), add minced garlic, cooking for about a minute longer.

Add chicken broth, increasing heat to medium-high, bring to a boil.

If you want your soup to have the smoothest consistency, pass the pumpkin puree through a chinois. If you don't have a chinois, use the back of a large spoon, and pass the puree through a mesh strainer by adding the puree into the strainer, then spreading the puree around the strainer with your spoon until it has all passed through.

Add puréed pumpkin, curry powder and sriracha to pot.

Stir and simmer until reduced to your desired consistency.

Add salt & pepper to taste.

Once reduced, puree soup with immersion blender, or let cool until warm, and puree in small batches in a blender.

Garnish with a dollop of plain yogurt, or sour cream, and fresh cilantro.

3.2.1255

I was messing around with my lighting a bit more in these photos, doing some more tests with my new LED light, playing with the shadows, and blocking light, to create a bit of a darker shot. What do you guys think of the style?

My recent adventures in pizza began last week, when I had a few people over for pizza before heading to the Beach House concert. Although I made many delicious pizzas, given that I was hosting people, I didn’t have time to take any pictures for the blog! Fortunately I had a bunch of dough leftover, and some free time, so I went about making some more delicious pizza for the blog.

Along with my insatiable desire for pizza, these posts were also motivated by my insatiable desire for food props and new photography equipment. Having recently picked up a new light for photo/video, as well as some new props, I had to test everything out. Wanting to try out a couple different styles, I went about making three different pizzas, for three different styles of photo, all of which I am very happy with! Not to mention, the light worked great, and the props looked lovely.

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, slowly add the water, whisking until ingredients are well combined.

Gently mix the dough with your hands until a ball is formed.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap, allowing the dough to rest at room temperature for around 18 hours, or until roughly doubled in size.

Once dough has rested, cut into three portions. On a floured worked surface, gather four corners to the center of the dough, creating four folds.

Place seam side down, gently form dough into a ball, dust with flour, wrap in plastic, or cover with damp towel and let rest for 1 hour. If storing in the fridge, lightly coat ball of dough with oil, and wrap in plastic wrap, taking dough out of the fridge at least an hour before using for pizza.

Before cooking the pizza, turn oven to its hottest setting (~500F), allowing to preheat for one hour. If using a pizza stone, place it in the oven before preheating.

To form the discs, flour whatever surface you will be transferring the pizza into the oven with (I use a large pizza paddle).

Using the back of your hands, gently stretch the dough into 10-12 inch discs.

Place toppings on pizza.

If using pizza stone, place pizza on the stone, turning the oven to broil, and cook for 5-7 minutes until pizza is cooked to your liking.

If you don't have a pizza stone, place pizza on a floured baking sheet, cooking for about 10 minutes on the ovens hottest setting.

-------

Pizza

-------

In a bowl, combine sliced brussel sprouts, ribbons of carrot, red onion, oregano and garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and a bit of red wine vinaigrette, followed by salt & pepper to taste, toss to coat.

Once pizza dough is formed, spread on an even coating of pizza sauce, followed by chopped bacon, along with a little bit of cheddar and mozzarella cheese.

Spread brussel sprouts, onion, and garlic mixture onto pizza.

Top with sliced Italian sausage, tomato, and the rest of the cheese.

Bake according to directions above.

Slice, serve, and enjoy!

3.2.1255

Overtaken with pizza cravings, I was unable to get through this whole post without running to the fridge, so I am currently eating these leftovers, grateful I didn’t eat everything yesterday. Isn’t blogging about pizza, while eating said pizza, the best way to blog anyways?

This pizza has been on my mind for quite some time! After the popularity of my Beet, Arugula, and Goat Cheese Grilled Cheese, I thought that same idea would transfer quite well into pizza format! I was definitely right! Not only does this pizza look beautiful, the flavours were awesome.

Rather than using goat cheese, I had a delicious Macedonian Feta Cheese in my fridge, which I would best describe as a cross between goat cheese and feta cheese. It has the creaminess of goat cheese, and the saltiness of feta, sounds awesome right?! If you can’t find Macedonian Feta, just use a mix of goat and feta cheese.

The beauty of this pizza comes with the blending of all these simple flavours. Sweet roasted beets, paired with the salty feta, topped with peppery arugula, dressed with an acidic balsamic vinegar, finished with a drizzle of honey for a touch of extra sweetness.

Beautiful in it's simplicity, this pizza combines the sweet earthiness of beets, with salty, creamy cheese, with peppery arugula, tossed lightly in balsamic vinegar and honey.

Ingredients

----------------------

No-knead dough - makes 3 10-12 inch pizzas

----------------------

500 grams (3¾ cups) all purpose flour

2 tsp salt

¼ tsp active dry yeast

11/2 cups water

-------

Pizza

-------

1 beet

2-3 handfuls of arugula

⅓ cup macedonian feta cheese

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Honey

Salt & pepper

Instructions

----------------------

No-Knead Dough

----------------------

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, slowly add the water, whisking until ingredients are well combined.

Gently mix the dough with your hands until a ball is formed.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap, allowing the dough to rest at room temperature for around 18 hours, or until roughly doubled in size.

Once dough has rested, cut into three portions. On a floured worked surface, gather four corners to the center of the dough, creating four folds.

Place seam side down, gently form dough into a ball, dust with flour, wrap in plastic, or cover with damp towel and let rest for 1 hour. If storing in the fridge, lightly coat ball of dough with oil, and wrap in plastic wrap, taking dough out of the fridge at least an hour before using for pizza.

Before cooking the pizza, turn oven to its hottest setting (~500F), allowing to preheat for one hour. If using a pizza stone, place it in the oven before preheating.

To form the discs, flour whatever surface you will be transferring the pizza into the oven with (I use a large pizza paddle).

Using the back of your hands, gently stretch the dough into 10-12 inch discs.

Place toppings on pizza.

If using pizza stone, place pizza on the stone, turning the oven to broil, and cook for 5-7 minutes until pizza is cooked to your liking.

If you don't have a pizza stone, place pizza on a floured baking sheet, cooking for about 10 minutes on the ovens hottest setting.

-------

Pizza

-------

Thinly slice your beet, placing slices in a bowl, drizzling with a bit of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and mix to season.